From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Caim]

Spoiler

Be thankful that most of Liurnia wasn't a swamp. They probably had to lock Myazaki in the janitor's closet and undo all the poison effects and movement speed reductions he had added to the flooded middle.

To make up for it they had to let Miyazaki turn the lava in Volcano Manor from something that slaps 25% of your health off the moment you dip your toe in it into a spicy swamp.

 

[Puukko]

I'm hoping the expansion comes with a death blight swamp.

 

[Caim]

I'm hoping the expansion comes with a death blight swamp.

Nah, sleep swamp. Stand in there too long and you fall asleep, which lets the otherwise non-threatening enemies catch up to you. It's even more annoying that a one-hit kill swamp.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Amidst dire industry layoffs, FromSoftware's Miyazaki says his studio is 'very blessed' to have long-term hires now taking director roles: 'games can be directed by others, not only myself'​

By Harvey Randall
published about 1 hour ago

"I'm aware of the situation in the games industry, [it's] quite harrowing."

(Image credit: Fromsoft)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is coming—and it's a big'un. Massive, expansion-level DLCs feel increasingly rarer in a climate flooded with live service microtransactions and seasonal passes. Personally, I'm just excited to get my grubby little mitts on another slice of FromSoftware's pedigree.
It's also potentially a function of how FromSoftware does business, focusing on their popular niche rather than bending the knee to wider trends—which also extends to the recent mass layoffs, which are currently in vogue in the name of "agile and more focused" studios, whatever that means.

In a recent interview with IGN (thanks, GamesRadar), Elden Ring's director Hidetaka Miyazaki touched on how dire things have been for game developers in 2023—a trend that is mercilessly continuing into early 2024.

"I'm aware of the situation in the games industry, [it's] quite harrowing," Miyazaki says—though despite some murmurings of underpay, FromSoftware appears to have kept cold-blooded layoffs at arm's length. "I think it's difficult for me to understand the exact circumstances there. I won't speak to those in specifics," he says.

In terms of FromSoftware's philosophy, he remarks: "I think we are very blessed in the way that we have a lot of keen up-and-coming developers, who've grown [and] developed within the studio," celebrating how some have "reached these director positions". He cites Armored Core 6 as a recent example, a game directed by Masaru Yamamura (who was also a lead game designer on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice).

"We have several of these up-and-coming directors who we're able to delegate these projects to, and we're able to have multiple projects on the go at once." Miyazaki seems to believe in keeping, training, and promoting game developers as long-term investments. "What I foresee in this climate (at least for us) is a FromSoftware where games can be directed by others, not only myself … I do see this as a time for us to continue to grow and continue to cultivate this talent, and [release] these games for as long as we can."

That's not a rare philosophy for Japanese studios to take—although it's one backed up by law, namely far stricter conditions to justify layoffs. That's not to say Miyazaki would give a bunch of people the boot if given the chance, far from it. After all, multiple things can be true at once. Not to mention the ways in which some Japanese companies try to skirt around said laws can be pretty cruel and unusual.

According to a Forbes report from 2015, Konami was accused of relocating developers to "punishment jobs" like janitorial detail. I am willing to bet that FromSoftware probably isn't plonking mops in its underperforming employee's hands. And considering how well Armored Core 6 did, its philosophies appear to be paying off.

Loyalty, trust, training. Compare that with the exclusively utilitarian approach of Western businesses.

They don't diversity hire, and they don't bring in a bunch of talentless dangerhair assholes and perverted faggots. Their culture is superior I'm afraid to say.

 

[Morgoth]

Amidst dire industry layoffs, FromSoftware's Miyazaki says his studio is 'very blessed' to have long-term hires now taking director roles: 'games can be directed by others, not only myself'​

By Harvey Randall
published about 1 hour ago

"I'm aware of the situation in the games industry, [it's] quite harrowing."

(Image credit: Fromsoft)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is coming—and it's a big'un. Massive, expansion-level DLCs feel increasingly rarer in a climate flooded with live service microtransactions and seasonal passes. Personally, I'm just excited to get my grubby little mitts on another slice of FromSoftware's pedigree.
It's also potentially a function of how FromSoftware does business, focusing on their popular niche rather than bending the knee to wider trends—which also extends to the recent mass layoffs, which are currently in vogue in the name of "agile and more focused" studios, whatever that means.

In a recent interview with IGN (thanks, GamesRadar), Elden Ring's director Hidetaka Miyazaki touched on how dire things have been for game developers in 2023—a trend that is mercilessly continuing into early 2024.

"I'm aware of the situation in the games industry, [it's] quite harrowing," Miyazaki says—though despite some murmurings of underpay, FromSoftware appears to have kept cold-blooded layoffs at arm's length. "I think it's difficult for me to understand the exact circumstances there. I won't speak to those in specifics," he says.

In terms of FromSoftware's philosophy, he remarks: "I think we are very blessed in the way that we have a lot of keen up-and-coming developers, who've grown [and] developed within the studio," celebrating how some have "reached these director positions". He cites Armored Core 6 as a recent example, a game directed by Masaru Yamamura (who was also a lead game designer on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice).

"We have several of these up-and-coming directors who we're able to delegate these projects to, and we're able to have multiple projects on the go at once." Miyazaki seems to believe in keeping, training, and promoting game developers as long-term investments. "What I foresee in this climate (at least for us) is a FromSoftware where games can be directed by others, not only myself … I do see this as a time for us to continue to grow and continue to cultivate this talent, and [release] these games for as long as we can."

That's not a rare philosophy for Japanese studios to take—although it's one backed up by law, namely far stricter conditions to justify layoffs. That's not to say Miyazaki would give a bunch of people the boot if given the chance, far from it. After all, multiple things can be true at once. Not to mention the ways in which some Japanese companies try to skirt around said laws can be pretty cruel and unusual.

According to a Forbes report from 2015, Konami was accused of relocating developers to "punishment jobs" like janitorial detail. I am willing to bet that FromSoftware probably isn't plonking mops in its underperforming employee's hands. And considering how well Armored Core 6 did, its philosophies appear to be paying off.

Loyalty, trust, training. Compare that with the exclusively utilitarian approach of Western businesses.

It's called Japanese labor market. Also means that people have shittier pay (particularly in junior ranks the tech pay is absolutely miserable there and coders are considered almost blue collar tier) and when looking at the overall labor market, there's a much stronger bifurcation between people who have full-time jobs and those who slave away at "part-time" jobs because only way you can counter rigid labor laws as a company is to be more conservative with recruiting full-time positions. The stability comes at a price.

The longterm instability you get from firing thousands of people willy-nilly is a bigger price to pay.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

That is the ABCs of business management -- managers are just usually too high on cockaine to realize it. Capitalism ho!

 

[Dadd]

I just want the original Bloodborne on PC. Not a de-make.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Daily reminder that the Resident Evil 4 remake was better than the original.

Daily reminder that you're delusional

 

[Skinwalker]

Daily reminder that the Resident Evil 4 remake was better than the original.

Daily reminder that you're delusional

They took out all the cringe, removed the worst sequences in the game, vastly improved the gameplay fluidity, added tons of quality of life improvements, and redesigned the main character to look like a relatable action guy instead of an anime tranny. Flawless* victory.

* Only flaw is that some woke (((advisor))) told Crapcom to double down on pseudo-Christian terminology for the villains' dialogue, esp. Saddler. The original consistently portrayed Los Illuminados with the aesthetic of a masonic satanist cult, which is far more appropriate.

 

[REhorror]

Is it that weird that I enjoy the combat/interactivity of these games rather than the level design?

No
After all it's the aspect that most people nowadays consider being the best thing about these games
It's just that it's objectively not the best thing about them

Dark Souls 2 ... has a lot of ghetto design

Such as?

Bosses were very well designed

lol
Some bosses are nice, but most are just rollslop r1 spam galore

Sure it would hurt DD2 sales - though perhaps not by much, as I don't see much overlap between audiences

What makes you think that?

Soulsborne
>originated in the heyday of the 7th gen
>established a specific and lauded reputation from the get go
>steadily increased it's popularity and success through regular game releases over the past decade
>each game tries to cater to the expectations of their growing audience

>aesthetics and tone are a mishmash of various fantasy ips beloved by the game's director
>unconventional storytelling and vague worldbuilding
>world map is essentially a collection of "dungeons" and level design is built primarly for combat encounters
>greater emphasis on equipment over character building (stats, skills, etc.)
>simplistic, yet adequate, combat mechanics and enemy design


DD
>released at the tail end of the 7th gen
>said hardware could barely run the game
>the game itself was half finished at best
>disregarded by most as Capcom's poor Skyrim clone
>aside from ports and a japan only mmo that was shitcanned after 3 years, it got no other releases to establish the IP outside it's cult following
>2 years ago almost everyone thought the IP was dead and buried
>both the original game and the sequel are essentially the game's director dream DnD game, not trying to cater to fan expectations much but rather trying to fullfill a very specific vision

>aesthetics and tone are straight out of classic DnD, minor inspirations from other fantasy ips
>traditional storytelling and worldbuilding
>world map and level design like classic jRPG's and Zelda, built to echo a sense of adventure
>greater emphasis on character building (stats, skills, etc.) over equipment
>intricate and multilayered combat mechanics and enemy design


Really the only similarities between the two is that they're both open-world, jARPG's
Sure there's players from both audiences that might play both game
But the differences in game experience are too great for these two audiences to "mix" that easily

I really don't see what's so great about the level design in the Souls games, to the point where some of you seem to soyface over it.

What has always impressed me playing Souls is that the enemies are smart and have a variety of combo against you, and you the same.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I really don't see what's so great about the level design in the Souls games, to the point where some of you seem to soyface over it.

What games do you consider to have great level design?

 

[REhorror]

I really don't see what's so great about the level design in the Souls games, to the point where some of you seem to soyface over it.

What games do you consider to have great level design?

Honestly I don't care for level deisgn in most games (I hate platformers) but probably Gothic 1 impresses me the most.

It's open world, it has a lot of nifty thing hidden beside the paved road.

 

[Elttharion]

I'm hoping the expansion comes with a death blight swamp.

Nah, sleep swamp. Stand in there too long and you fall asleep, which lets the otherwise non-threatening enemies catch up to you. It's even more annoying that a one-hit kill swamp.

Miyazaki is a visionare, his next inovation is that when you step foot in the sleep swamp in the game a highly trained Fromsoftware strike team will come to your house and sleep dart you in real life.

 

[Child of Malkav]

a highly trained Fromsoftware strike team will come to your house and sleep dart you in real life.

Nah, Memehackzaki himself will do that ash of war we've seen in the trailer kicking you out of your chair while screaming "Forefathers one and all, bear witness!".

 

[REhorror]

I would also add RE2 as an example of great level design, simply because of its design of hub world connected by corridors.
And it uses its environment well to make people feel a sense of dread.

The horror atmosphere is more important than level design for me, if I think about it. Hopefully ER's DLC will be scary, kinda like DaS3 at some parts.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

The original Resident Evil remake's level design clowns on all of them. Clowns on them in all ways. From Software definitely has the best modern day level design. I don't even know who would be in 2nd place, but they would be a very distant 2nd. From is just a different beast.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Be thankful that most of Liurnia wasn't a swamp. They probably had to lock Myazaki in the janitor's closet and undo all the poison effects and movement speed reductions he had added to the flooded middle.

Still disappointed Liurnia didn't have an enormous poison swamp in its middle.

Typical Miyazaki

https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/0...-love-of-creating-poison-swamps-in-elden-ring

Hidetaka Miyazaki Rediscovered His Love Of Creating Poison Swamps In Elden Ring
by DANIEL TACK on Jan 28, 2022 at 02:30 PM

If you’ve played one of the From Software action/RPG titles from Souls to Bloodborne, chances are you’re used to coming face to face with an area where the environment itself can feel like a major boss encounter. These oppressive poisonous swamp areas really got their stride in the Valley of Defilement all the way back in Demon’s Souls, but have continued to plague players to various degrees through the notorious Blighttown to other poisonous pits, caves, and muck. Speaking with Elden Ring game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, he relays that in this game, he rekindled his love for creating these horrific environments.

“In terms of how the player feels when they encounter this area that is a different story,” says Miyazaki. “But when making the game I rediscovered my love for making poison swamps. I know how people feel about them, but you know, suddenly I realize I'm in the middle of making one and I just can't help myself. It just happens.”

And happen it will in Elden Ring, where players will once again battle challenging environments alongside titanic bosses. In the past, players have had to deal with poison and toxic, with toxic being a more virulent and deadly version of the standard poison that often just ticks down at the player until they die. However, Elden Ring is bigger all over, and there may be even worse status effects to deal with here as part of the poison swamp package.

“In terms of Elden Ring’s story and setting there is something that is especially horrible that exists and persists in this world,” says Miyazaki. “I'll go ahead and say the name so it's something that you can look forward to, it's called the Scarlet Rot this is something that is separate a little bit from poison or toxicity but I hope you look forward to it.”

In fact, Elden Ring introduces a new affliction for players to contend with known as the Scarlet Rot. It’s unknown if players can actually get the Scarlet Rot, but in my playtime with the game it was referenced several times, meaning there’s probably an entire poison swamp zone to splish splash around in. Putting several of the pieces together from the extensive demo session also makes one think that perhaps this Scarlet Rot is the reason so many of our characters are wearing masks and facial adornments, to hide the ravages of this potential disease.

We’ll have to see when the game lands on February 25, but I’ll tell you this – the more Miyazaki enjoys making a poison swamp area, the more we probably have to worry about making our way through it. Hopefully, Torrent will see us through but don’t count on our mounted companion to be of any help for any interior areas tinged by the Scarlet Rot.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Ĵo

Be thankful that most of Liurnia wasn't a swamp. They probably had to lock Myazaki in the janitor's closet and undo all the poison effects and movement speed reductions he had added to the flooded middle.

Still disappointed Liurnia didn't have an enormous poison swamp in its middle.

Typical Miyazaki

https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/0...-love-of-creating-poison-swamps-in-elden-ring

Hidetaka Miyazaki Rediscovered His Love Of Creating Poison Swamps In Elden Ring
by DANIEL TACK on Jan 28, 2022 at 02:30 PM

If you’ve played one of the From Software action/RPG titles from Souls to Bloodborne, chances are you’re used to coming face to face with an area where the environment itself can feel like a major boss encounter. These oppressive poisonous swamp areas really got their stride in the Valley of Defilement all the way back in Demon’s Souls, but have continued to plague players to various degrees through the notorious Blighttown to other poisonous pits, caves, and muck. Speaking with Elden Ring game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, he relays that in this game, he rekindled his love for creating these horrific environments.

“In terms of how the player feels when they encounter this area that is a different story,” says Miyazaki. “But when making the game I rediscovered my love for making poison swamps. I know how people feel about them, but you know, suddenly I realize I'm in the middle of making one and I just can't help myself. It just happens.”

And happen it will in Elden Ring, where players will once again battle challenging environments alongside titanic bosses. In the past, players have had to deal with poison and toxic, with toxic being a more virulent and deadly version of the standard poison that often just ticks down at the player until they die. However, Elden Ring is bigger all over, and there may be even worse status effects to deal with here as part of the poison swamp package.

“In terms of Elden Ring’s story and setting there is something that is especially horrible that exists and persists in this world,” says Miyazaki. “I'll go ahead and say the name so it's something that you can look forward to, it's called the Scarlet Rot this is something that is separate a little bit from poison or toxicity but I hope you look forward to it.”

In fact, Elden Ring introduces a new affliction for players to contend with known as the Scarlet Rot. It’s unknown if players can actually get the Scarlet Rot, but in my playtime with the game it was referenced several times, meaning there’s probably an entire poison swamp zone to splish splash around in. Putting several of the pieces together from the extensive demo session also makes one think that perhaps this Scarlet Rot is the reason so many of our characters are wearing masks and facial adornments, to hide the ravages of this potential disease.

We’ll have to see when the game lands on February 25, but I’ll tell you this – the more Miyazaki enjoys making a poison swamp area, the more we probably have to worry about making our way through it. Hopefully, Torrent will see us through but don’t count on our mounted companion to be of any help for any interior areas tinged by the Scarlet Rot.

Poison swamps are a time honoured tradition. I still remember trudging through U4 and discovering swamp and then wtfing when everyone started eating poison.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The lake of rot wasn't enough?

 

[Cheesedragon117]

The lake of rot wasn't enough?

No, the Lake of Rot wasn't enough. There was only a single overworld boss in there and very easy enemies.

Give me a Deathblight or Madness swamp with multiple sniper-archer enemies with an unavoidable sight radius. Or with multiple Runebears or Giant Crayfish in the spots where the swamp is the thickest and your movement is impeded.

I WANT PAIN!!

 

[Lyric Suite]

I really don't see what's so great about the level design in the Souls games, to the point where some of you seem to soyface over it.

What games do you consider to have great level design?

Honestly I don't care for level deisgn in most games

Why are you even commenting on it then.

Level design is one of the most crucial aspects of games for me. It matters because it is a concrete way to interact and engage with the enviorment. Linear games are a chore for me and feel like theme park rides. The enviorments don't feel real or engaging, you are on a rail looking at pretty pictures that don't have any actual substance to them and it's basically just visual fluff.

The dumbing down of level design is one of the things that ruined the FPS genre completely as far i'm concerned, and i'm not just talking about popamole shit like Call of Duty or any nu-shooter. Even games like Serius Sam and its bygones i couldn't play for the longest time and when i did i still din't like them much. Meanwhile i've been playing Doom wads and Quake maps for 20 years and i still don't get tired of it.

In Elden Ring, i also breathed a sigh of relief whenever i stepped into a legacy dungeon and i groaned whenever i went back to the open world areas. Aimless roaming was never my thing.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

bask in that forbidden gazpacho

 

[REhorror]

I really don't see what's so great about the level design in the Souls games, to the point where some of you seem to soyface over it.

What games do you consider to have great level design?

Honestly I don't care for level deisgn in most games

Why are you even commenting on it then.

Level design is one of the most crucial aspects of games for me. It matters because it is a concrete way to interact and engage with the enviorment. Linear games are a chore for me and feel like theme park rides. The enviorments don't feel real or engaging, you are on a rail looking at pretty pictures that don't have any actual substance to them and it's basically just visual fluff.

The dumbing down of level design is one of the things that ruined the FPS genre completely as far i'm concerned, and i'm not just talking about popamole shit like Call of Duty or any nu-shooter. Even games like Serius Sam and its bygones i couldn't play for the longest time and when i did i still din't like them much. Meanwhile i've been playing Doom wads and Quake maps for 20 years and i still don't get tired of it.

In Elden Ring, i also breathed a sigh of relief whenever i stepped into a legacy dungeon and i groaned whenever i went back to the open world areas. Aimless roaming was never my thing.

I'm genuinely surprised when people bring up level design as some sort of plus point for Souls games, when it doesn't do anything for me.

I way prefer linear games with set pieces.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

They took out all the cringe,

The only thing cringe here is your post

removed the worst sequences in the game,

Thanks for confirming you have shit taste

vastly improved the gameplay fluidity,

Just because Leon is more agile, doesn't mean the gameplay design is better
REmake 4 combat is closer to RE6 than it is to RE4 or even 5
Regardless OG 4 combat is still much tighter and challenging than the remake's

added tons of quality of life improvements,

Do tell exately what QoL improvements the original version needs (that aren't covered by the RE HD Project)?

and redesigned the main character to look like a relatable action guy

No way, fag

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Leon already had the Backstreet Boys haircut in 2004, though